While De Niro’s rant on Trump was making media waves around the globe, he was part of a delegation which included the Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, Hon Gaston Browne on a mission to promote investments in the picturesque twin-islands of Antigua and Barbuda.

De Niro, a Special Envoy of Antigua and Barbuda is an investor himself together with Australian billionaire James Packer in a real estate project in Barbuda. Packer has already invested in the actor’s Nobu restaurants.

“It’s a beautiful place, that’s why I’m involved in this project,” De Niro shared during a conference at the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, sponsored by Arton Capital, a leading global citizenship advisory firm. Speaking alongside Browne, the actor was keen to reassure Middle East investors that this is a sound economic proposition.

Special Envoys of Antigua and Barbuda Robert De Niro and Armand Arton discuss investments in Dubai.

UAE has a number of prominent investors in the island. One such investor, brokered by Arton Capital, is the developer of the Callaloo Cay project, an exclusive US$ 150 million resort. Proactive in its bid to attract UAE investment, Antigua and Barbuda is opening an embassy and a trade and economic center in Abu Dhabi, the first CARICOM country to do so.

In addition to the long list of concessions for foreign investors such as a 25-year tax exemption, another significant benefit is Antigua’s Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP) which fuels local economic growth. Of all the countries with an active CIP, Antigua and Barbuda’s passport has been ranked as the most powerful in the Caribbean and the fourth best in the world by Arton’s Passport Index, a global ranking of the world’s passports. Citizens can travel visa-free to more than 124 countries including Canada, Europe’s Schengen zone, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, among others.

“The CIP program for the twin-island has become popular thanks to the level of trust built due to the continued bilateral economic developments and favourable investment climate,” says John Hanafin, CEO of Arton Capital.

On the subject of global citizenship, “We can have our differences, but as the world gets smaller and people become more dependent on each other, we have no choice but to be concerned about our own self perseverance,” shared De Niro.

While the government of Antigua and Barbuda has solidified relations with the United Arab Emirates it is also forging closer ties with Qatar. Prior to the UAE trip, and at the initiative of Armand Arton, President of Arton Capital and Special Envoy of Antigua, Prime Minister Browne and his delegation were invited to Qatar, where they met with Prime Minister, Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Cultural Adviser at the Emiri Diwan, Dr. Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari.

Arton Capital is a leading residency and citizenship advisory firm, working closely with 10 governments advising on foreign policy and on attracting foreign direct investments.